Europees Globaliseringsfonds keert €33.6 miljoen uit aan ontslagen werknemers (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Directoraat-generaal Werkgelegenheid, sociale zaken en inclusie (EMPL) i, gepubliceerd op donderdag 15 maart 2012.

The European Commission has made payments to Austria, France, Italy and Portugal from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund.

The total amount of €33.6 million will help 5,338 dismissed workers back into employment, following large-scale redundancies in the automotive industry, the construction and the road transport sectors. €24.5 million will help 3, 582 former workers of Renault in France. The economic crisis brought about a sharp drop in sales as most consumers decided to postpone the vehicle purchases, resulting in a large number of layoffs. The affected production plants of Renault and its affected subsidiaries are located in several regions of France, in particular in Ile-de-France, Haute-Normandie and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. €3.9 million will help 528 former construction workers in Italy. These redundancies were also a consequence of the crisis, as they followed the substantial decrease in demand for new houses and house renovation, mainly due to the decrease in private investment in the residential sector.

The territories affected by the redundancies are the autonomous provinces of Trentino and Alto Adige/Südtirol. €3.6 million will help 502 dismissed workers from companies operating in road transport located in the regions of Niederösterreich and Oberösterreich in Austria. The dismissals were a consequence of the financial and economic crisis which resulted in a substantial decrease in goods production and subsequently in demand for freight transport. €1.5 million will help 726 former workers of three manufacturers of car components in Portugal: Leoni Wiring Systems Viana, Lda, Kromberg & Schubert Portugal, Lda, and Delphi Automotive Systems. The fall in demand for electrical equipment for cars, which followed the decline in demand for new motor vehicles in the EU combined with the impossibility of further reducing production costs and/or access to credit, resulted in the closure of the Lear production plant in Guarda and of Krombert & Schubert Portugal, Lda. The closure of Leoni Wiring Systems Viana, Lda was due to the combination of a difficult economic situation due to the crisis with the relocation of the production plant to Morocco.

These payments follow the approval by the Budgetary Authority - the European Parliament and the Council.